1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, in general, to means for extinguishing fires and more specifically to means for extinguishing oil well fires and the like.
2. Information Disclosure Statement
Fires are typically extinguished by spraying the fire with a fire retardant substance such as water, foam, or the like to deprive the fire of oxygen. However, with oil well fires and the like, the mere spraying of such a substance is often not sufficient to extinguish the fire.
In a typical oil well fire, hydrogen, carbon, and oxygen from the air unite to form carbon dioxide gas and water vapor. The uniting of the oxygen with the hydrogen and the carbon produces the heat and flame of the fire. Carbon monoxide gas forms when there is not enough oxygen to completely burn the fuel. Unburned carbon in the form of smoke and soot is also produced when there is not enough oxygen to completely burn the fuel. Such a typical oil well fire has an area of non combustion directly above the distal end of the oil pipe made up of gas and/or vapor that has not yet burned because it has not yet mixed sufficiently with the air and its temperature is not high enough for it to burn; an area of partial combustion directly above the area of non-combustion filled with carbon particles freed from the gas by high temperature and raised to high heat; and an area of complete combustion directly above the area of partial combustion where there is enough oxygen for complete burning.
Nothing in the prior art discloses o suggests the present invention. More specifically, nothing in the prior art discloses or suggests a fire extinguisher including, in general, body means having a downward opening cavity for being dropped over a fire burning relative to a support surface to enclose the fire within the cavity; the body means having a continuous wall forming the mouth of the cavity; and seal means for forming a substantially air-tight seal between the continuous wall of the body means and the support surface.